The brightest planets in May

The brightest planets in May

The month begins at the height of the best evening phenomenon of 2015 of the “elusive planet” Mercury. But not only Mercury will be visible in the sky this month.

Jupiter, the "King of the Planets", will be high in the southwest. As soon as darkness falls on the ground, it can be seen immediately. It is in an excellent position for viewing from a telescope, and remains in it until midnight. Venus reaches the peak of its visibility, almost reaching midnight.

But the most spectacular will be the appearance of Saturn. It appears from the south-east after evening twilight. Do not miss the moment, and look at Saturn in your telescope. At this time, the location of its rings will be the most spectacular in the last 10 years. Read on to find out which day, which planet can be seen in the best colors.

Here you can see a graph that will make it clear where, what planets, and at what time, you can best consider.

May 7: Mercury made an excellent leap in the evening sky. On May 7, he is at the maximum eastern elongation at 21 degrees (straighten your hand against the sky, with your fingers folded, the distance from the little finger to the thumb will be approximately equal to 10 degrees).

Just two degrees to the right, you can see the Pleiades. Have you ever seen something like this in winter? May 20, they should be in line with the Sun. Mercury will approach the Sun, and then will disappear by about 0, 16 of its magnitude per day. It will be easier to watch at the beginning of the month. After May 14, it will be seen a little more difficult, and it will reach minimum visibility on May 30. In addition, in the western part of the sky will be seen a dazzling Venus, which reaches its peak in May evenings. After the fall of twilight, in the west you can see its radiance, which will be visible during the darkness. The whole month, Venus is in the west almost 40 degrees high from sunset (for specialists, it is 40 degrees north latitude). As soon as the sun goes down, you can see its bright peak, which will gradually shimmer in blue.

The clarification from Venus this month will fluctuate within -4, 2-4, 4. After it gets dark, it swells, and after 1, 5 hours after darkness comes, it becomes bright. Such a phenomenon can be observed throughout May. Telescopes record the transition of Venus into a convex phase. By the end of May she will reach it already half.

May 9: Venus will be located less than 2 degrees from the M35 star cluster at the feet of Gemini.

May 21: Despite moving more than 8 degrees, the attractive crescent of Venus can be seen in the northwest sky. Venus is on the right and up far from the moon.

May 22: Saturn becomes the second planet this year, which will be opposite the Sun. It will rise early in the evening, and will become visible throughout the night. Saturn is located 10 degrees northwest of the red star Antares. Its illumination, equal to 0.0, is quite bright to view the planet with the naked eye. The reason is that its rings are inclined by 24 degrees relative to us, making the illusion of increasing the size of the planet. In 2017, the rings will be inclined towards us as much as possible, the angle of inclination will be as much as 27 degrees. May 23: Standing high above the wide crescent, this evening Jupiter will become the second “evening star” in brightness. She will shine in the upper left corner of Venus. They will be located at a distance of 50 degrees from each other, at the beginning of May, but by the end of the month the distance will reach 21 degrees. Due to its brightness, they will be noticeable. As soon as it gets dark, the illumination from Jupiter will be around -2.0, it can be seen high in the west. Jupiter will be perfectly visible in the telescope at nightfall.

May 30: Mercury will become in lower conjunction with the Sun and will enter the morning sky.

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